For self-catering accommodation, the daily tax rate varies from €4 for villas to €1 for apartments and rural properties. There are discounts of up to 75 percent for stays during low season (Nov-Apr) and up to 50 percent discount for stays longer than 9 days (including the previous discount, attached to low season charge).

Children under 16 will not be charged. Other exemptions include people who travel to the islands for health care or to help with any emergency or disaster but they too must fill in forms and in the case of health, produce a declaration signed by a doctor.

This new tourism tax is expected to bring in between €60-70 million a year which will be spent on sustainable tourism projects across all four islands.

Here are the answers to questions we have received from concerned Owners in the Balearics:

How is a “stay” defined?Essentially, it is the 24 hours between 12 midday and 12 midday the following day. But any part of a day over 12 hours becomes a “day”.

How’s the tax going to be collected?For holiday rentals (and campsites) the tax must be paid to the government annually at the time of submitting your annual Declaracion de Renta in 2017

Other hostelry establishments must complete Form 702for the period 1st July 2016 (when the tourism tax was introduced) until 31st December 2016. The deadline for completing this form is 1-20 September 2016.

Are Balearic residents exempt from the tax?European rules mean that the tax has to apply to Balearic residents as well.

What happens if a child has a birthday while on holiday and goes over the exempt age?The government has yet to clarify this point.

Will the tax put people off going to Spain?

In 2002 the islands introduced a similar tax, but it only stuck for a season because it deterred holidaymakers who switched to lower-cost destinations such as Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia. That’s not going to happen this year. Indeed, Spain is likely to have its most successful summer ever, as a result of a reluctance of people to go to Turkey and Egypt.

Catalonia is one of only a few parts of Europe where there is strong "sun and beach tourism" to have a tax. Croatia has something similar, for example. Elsewhere in Spain, Andalusia, the Canaries, the Madrid Community have all ruled out a tax. Valencia is thinking about it.

The rest of Spain, and other Mediterranean nations, will be watching closely how holidaymakers respond to the new Balearics tax.

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